Alexis De Tocqueville Perspective on the Birth and Nature of American Democracy

This paper examines the American democratic experience through the lens of Alexis de Tocqueville, a 19th-century French political thinker. Focusing on Tocqueville’s observations of American democracy, this study explores how values of liberty, equality, self-government and equality of condition shaped American society. Using a theoretical approach, this study analyses Tocqueville’s writings particularly His Magnus opus: Democracy in America, to understand the effects of these values on American Democracy. The qualitative methodology employed to examine historical data and Tocqueville’s observations. Tocqueville’s analysis and recommendation provide analytical insights into the utility of liberal democracy beyond America to include non-liberal, non-western countries struggling with problems of democratization. This research contributes to knowledge by providing a deeper understanding of the American democratic beginning, experience and its impact on contemporary political theory.